Christmas -- Winston-Salem (all three sons will be here)Thanksgiving -- Winston SalemEvery Saturday we are home -- Watch Boise State footballEvery Sunday we are home -- Watch Pittsburgh Steelers football, unless they continue to play as they did against Baltimore. In that case, it may be Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers who get close every time but have won only twice.

November

Trip to Boise: Lorrie and I are currently scheduled to fly to Boise on November 10 and return on November 15.but the trip has now been canceled for medical reasons. We learned valuable travel lessons going to California earlier (see below), and it would be unwise, especially for an experienced risk manager, to risk the potential events and consequences therefrom by making this planned trip to Boise, as much as we want to go. Reason must overcome emotion from time to time. if you are interested in the detailed medical reasons, click here: E-mail on Trip to Boise.

October

Anniversary: October 27 was our 38th wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a love boat of sushi. Perfect!

California: On October 20-25, we flew to the Bay Area to visit Trey, Jessica and the three grandkids. October 20, the travel day, was just miserable for Win The extreme fatigue completely exhausted him. Even sitting in a plane is difficult. Fortunately, we had our new wheelchair, and so engaging security and the rest the airport was much easier than it could have been. Win even thought it was fun to go the front of the security lines and be pushed abound the airport. On Friday we went into the city to a restaurant/jazz club called Bix, where we had dinner with Matthew and Deborah Cox, who came all the way up from Los Angeles to see us. We also met George Kouri, Jeane Cromer Kouri's brother-in-law, who plays the keyboard in the jazz trio. He also arranged the table for us. It was a great location, and it was great to get to know him, even if only briefly. On Sunday Trey and Jessica dedicated Cole at church and it was good to be there for that. Steve Butler even came by the house Sunday afternoon. Steve used to be an in-house attorney with Bechtel and Parsons Brinkerhoff. He has pancreatic cancer and also has a CaringBridge site. Great guy. We traveled back on Tuesday, October 25, and had a much better day than October 20. In fact, the first three days of that week were progressively better for fatigue, but I (Win) have been praying fervently and that fatigue would dissipate, and it did.

College Football: On October 15 Boise State had a game against Colorado State, but it was not on cable or DirecTV. Therefore, we went to a live Wake Forest-Virginia Tech game here in Winston-Salem. It was difficult for Win to sit in the bleachers even with backs to the seats, and so Peter, Win and Lorrie left at halftime. Virginia Tech won handily. This was Win's first test with his recently-purchase wheelchair to reduce the distances when needing to walk, therefore preserving the little energy he has when the extreme fatigue sets in.

Haggs: October 12-15 Gregg and Linda Hagg, our pastor and his wife from New Jersey,visited us in Winston-Salem. As with the McDonoughs earlier in the month,they were not interested in touring Winston-Salem or seeing any sights. So instead, Greg, Linda, and Lorrie painted the dining. It looks good.

Jim and Debra Lee: Jim and Debra, from Palatine, Illinois, are the parents of Jenna Lee, Brian's fiancé. (See Jenna and Brian's Wedding Page.) On Saturday, October 8, they were at the University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill visiting their middle daughter, Katherine, who is working on her master's degree there in public health. So we could meet, they drove from Chapel Hill to Winston-Salem for the day. We had a wonderful visit before treating them to a genuine North Carolina BBQ for lunch here in Clemmons. Upon our return, they stayed as long as they could before having to leave for a scheduled dinner in Chapel Hill.

Boise State Football: On October 7 I did a little desk work in the afternoon, and then watched Boise State play Fresno State from 8 PM to about 12:30 AM. It was not much of a game from a competitive standpoint, but, quite frankly, it was fun to watch a blowout. It was 50-0 at halftime without Boise even trying.

Sue and Steve McDonough: On October 5 Sue and Steve McDonough, former neighbors of ours in Boise, returned to the US from a month's vacation in Greece. On the following day, they were not interested in seeing the sights of Winston-Salem. Instead, they were interested in ridding our garage of the boxes, furniture and other items that we had moved but had done nothing about yet. In fact, there was barely room to walk in the garage before they started, let alone get two cars in the garage. However, because they wanted to help and because Peter's pickup truck was still on our street, Sue helped Lorrie unpack some boxes, and Steve took scores of boxes, furniture pieces and other items to our storage unit. We can now get two cars in the garage. What wonderful friends! Fortunately, we still had time that evening to see their pictures of Greece. What a good time we had.

Re-Admission to Hospital: On October 3 I again went to the Cancer Center for my usual trial drug treatment. Instead, I was admitted to the hospital again. Is this getting to be a bad habit? In any event, my left leg was very, very heavy with blood because the hematoma was settling downward. In fact, they discovered a blood clot behind my left knee, and so the purpose of this admission was to take me off the Lovenox and instead give me a heparin drip. Both are blood thinners, but the heparin drip is more controllable because it is in smaller doses. Therefore, I had four very boring days in the hospital. Again, Lorrie describes this in excellent detail in an October 4 Journal entry on the CaringBridge site, if you've not read it already.

Mother's Burial: On October 1 my father, my sister, Dara, and my brother, Scott, buried my mother's ashes in my mother's garden, as she wished. This was done at my brother's home in Pennsylvania, so I was unable to be there. As I understand it, though, Dara's husband Jeffrey, who is a Methodist minister, dug three holes, stating that they represented the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. My father apparently said "no," and that instead they represented Win, Dara, and Scott. Ashes were poured into each hole, and my father apparently buried the ashes in hole representing me, and Scott and Dara buried the ashes in the holes representing them.

September

Landscaping and Concrete: On September 28 both the concrete guy and the landscaper started. We are having the driveway straightened a bit so that a car can get into the garage straight, we are adding a third parking pad to the side of the garage, we're having a sidewalk poured from the street to the front porch, and we are having a rear patio poured. For landscaping, the property was surveyed when the bought the house, and so we are planting mature landscaping along the border and along the house. It should look good when complete. I will try to get some pictures posted soon, although probably not until the extreme fatigue morphs into general fatigue.

Louisiana: On September 22 Lorrie and I were to leave for Louisiana to visit friends and colleagues in the Dredging Division of Weeks Marine, and also to attend a football game at McNeese State in Lake Charles, Louisiana. One of our colleagues has a son who's playing for McNeese State. However, on September 22 I was still in the hospital and not discharged until late that afternoon. Although the football season will be over, we will try to reschedule the trip after the first of the year.

Insertion of Blood Clot Filter: While in the hospital for a few days, I had an IVC blood clot filter inserted on September 21 in the vein just below the kidneys and just above where the two main veins from the legs join together. It was a pretty slick procedure. They inserted it through the vein in the neck back down through all the veins and organs to the spot just described. Although it takes two hours to prepare, the procedure itself took only about 10 min. if you have not read it already, Lorrie describes in detail in her September 22 Journal entry on my CaringBridge site.

Admission to Hospital: on September 19 I went to the Comprehensive Cancer Center for my usual trial drug (cilengitide) treatment. Instead, because of the huge hematoma that developed as a result of the September 14 orange juice fall, I was admitted to the hospital for blood transfusions. Apparently, 2-3 pints of blood left the circulatory system for the hematoma, and that blood needs to be replaced in order to keep the hemoglobin count up.

Orange Juice Spill:September 14 is a day that I would like to delete or erase. Looking back, it set me back perhaps several months. What happened was that I had made a full picture of OJ and set it on the counter waiting to put in the refrigerator. I bumped it somehow, and the entire container fell on the hardwood kitchen floor. My bare just went right out from under me, and I landed on my left hip. What a mess! There were no visible bruises until a huge hematoma developed several days later. See Lorrie's Journal entry of September 20 on the CaringBridge site for her more detailed explanation of the reasons for being admitted to the hospital on September 19. Win's CaringBridge site.

House: On September 13 and 15, Peter Apel, and his father-in-law, Alan Swajkoski, moved a lot of boxes and furniture from our garage to a couple of storage units that Lorrie and Win have leased. We may get a car in the garage someday after all.

Win's Birthday: (From Win) September 10, 2011, was my 62nd birthday, and Lorrie put a great post on CaringBridge that day. if you have not seen it, you must: To celebrate, Peter, Franny, Lorrie and I went out for a great sushi dinner. I often tell people I can eat sushi seven days a week, but then I wouldn't be able to eat Italian, Mexican, French, and the other cuisines I like as well.

Wake Forest Video: On September 9 the video production department of Wake Forest Medical School sent us a link to a copy of the video they produced, wherein Lorrie and Win talked about Wake Forest Medical School and Wake Forest Baptist Health. You can view it on the donation page if you want. It is very professionally produced. Just click here to view the video: Donate to Win’s Brain Tumor Endowment Fund.

Family Tree: As of September 9, and largely for Apel and Marconi relatives, a new format of the family tree with some updated information is now on the Family Tree page. It is called Roots Magic. I still need to talk to Ted and Jim Marconi about what we learned in Italy on the Marconi side There is some new information for some persons, but there is no information whatsoever, new or old, for living persons. If any of you have additional or correct information for anyone whomsoever, please let me know. Thank you.

Win's Mother: On September 3, at 3 PM, a memorial service held for Marian Apel, who on August 23, 2011 passed away in a nursing home in Sligo, PA. It was peaceful, painless, and expected after three days of vigil. She had been ill for some time, so it was only a matter of time. The service was at the Chapel on the Hill in Emlenton, PA. Here is a page dedicated to my mother: My Mother.

August

Matthew Cox: on August 24 Matthew Cox, who lives in Los Angeles with his wife Deborah, spent the day with us in Clemmons. Matthew and Win work together from 2002 to 2008Matthew was with Aon and Win was with Washington group We treated him to genuine North Carolina barbecue for lunch, and spent most of the rest of the afternoon reminiscing and otherwise visiting. It was fantastic that he came to visit. We wished it could have

Seattle: On August 12-15 Lorrie and I had the opportunity to visit Seattle. The reason for the trip was an invitation by Brian, our youngest son (see our Three Sons) to visit the Puget Sound Naval Station where he works in Bremerton, Washington. It was Family Day on August 13, so we spent 2-3 hours at the Station before we had to leave. We toured the USS Michigan, a nuclear submarine that was dry docked, and learned what Brian did as an engineering duty officer, supervising the repair and maintenance of moored and drydocked ships and boats. On Saturday evening, Lorrie, Brian, Jenna and I took the ferry over to Seattle and had dinner with Jim Wellman, his friend Abbie, and Jodi Wellman. Jim and Jodi are siblings of Jessica Apel, who is married to Trey, our oldest son. Sunday lunch was spent with our nephew, Jamie Marconi, and his wife, Natalie Daniels, and their daughter Robin. On Sunday evening, Brian, Jenna, Lorrie and I joined Dave and Heidi Ross for dinner at a wonderful Japanese restaurant. Dave and I were roommates our freshman and sophomore years in college, and David and I have run 22 marathons together. All in all, the visit to Seattle was fantastic but way too short. Seattle Photos.

Earlier News

If you are interested in older "What’s New" information (Is that an oxymoron?), you can click here.